Getting Kennewick ready for President Lewis

Hey Mom!

The trek looks awesome! It's pretty amazing to see all the youth in the pictures and how old they are all getting. When i was back home they seemed so young. Adam Nielson looks like 5 years older with that beefy neck of his. Thomas is getting HUGE as well. Everyone is changing a ton. Its great!

This past week has just flown by! Seriously just flashes before my eyes. Elder Smith and I are just getting into a really busy part of the transfer and I would have to say our missions. We are preparing to receive President and Sister Lewis this next upcoming week. It is going to be incredible to see the revelation that he is going to have as he makes decisions on what mission policy is and also what we can do as missionaries to start and set the foundation for this mission. The plans that go into a mission are pretty crazy. We have the next 2 transfers planned out and ready so when they get here we can hit the ground running. Elder Smith and I are really excited to see everything start to form. Relying on the Lord is a must as we take on this responsibility. It's interesting to note that as we have these hard task everything else is magnified as well. Either mental, spiritual, or physically demanding things that make things harder to accomplish the work. Whether it is the lack of sleep or headaches we all have some thing. I know that it is for a specific reason. We have no choice to either lighten up or continue only to find ourselves becoming more and more stressed. The Gospel applies perfectly as we are faced with tasks that demand the best from us. It first takes an act of faith. Believing that somehow or in someway god will be able to help. A story within the book of mormon is a perfect example of this. In Mosiah 24 Alma and his people are persecuted and essentially enslaved. Burdens are placed upon their backs and they cry out to their lord because their afflictions were so great. That cry, that plea is that one thing that changes everything. An act of faith in which god can place a miracle within their lives. This is the result when they again have their burdened task.

Mosiah 24:15

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

These times of trial or of simply being busy are times where we can truly find our savior. In the midst of our hectic lives he has the one thing that can truly make the difference in being able to endure. Just like this scriptures stated, "the burden which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light." He won't remove the burden. He will empower us to bare these burdens and through them recognize his power and love as he helps us. Finding my savior and recognizing his personal love for me and everyone out there has changed my perspective for forever. I know that my redeemer lives!

Real quick! Could you try to pull some strings and grab a paper copy of my drivers license so that i have some documentation when my birthday comes around? If so great! Thanks for everything!

A New Assignment- APE

Tri-Cities and Kennewick, Wa Assistant to the President

Hey Mom!

The Tri-Cities area is awesome! This past Monday President Taylor called Elder Peterson and me and informed us of an emergency transfer. This last Saturday President and Sister Taylor picked me up and we drove to Kennewick, WA. 

It was a pretty intense drive. I was able to ask them many questions that I had concerning the new mission and just serving at the capacity of an assistant. It was awesome experience to spend some time with them for the last time in a long time. 

The pictures that are attached to the email were taken right before they left and I was off. Right when we got together as a companionship we were so busy. This coming week is transfer week and we had alot of planning to do. We currently are serving with 220 missionaries and are moving alot of missionaries around. This transfer determines who will be serving in the new mission. All the missionaries that I have met so far have been stellar. They all have a great spirit about them and you can tell they are really great at what they do. So far we have been pretty busy in the office but as for now its been really cool to see the difference in the approaches, teaching, and finding methods. Every mission has a different culture and drinking in this one has been pretty awesome. 

Elder Smith is my new companion. He is such a cool guy! Probably the most charitable person I've ever met. We are pretty excited to see where this transfer takes us as we work to open the new Yakima Mission. For now we are currently working with the Kennewick mission President, President Ware. President Ware is such an awesome man as well. You can really see where all the missionaries get their spark as you see President. He has done a great job in getting the mission on the same page and also unify them. I've learned that you can literally learn a large majority of things as you watch even the most tiny things. So for now we are working on setting up the new Yakima Mission office. It will be a great test of my ability to remember how everything was set up back in the Vancouver mission. Its going to be a large learning experience for all of us but we are welcoming it with opens arms. I know that was we continue in faith and rely wholy upon the merits and mercy of our lord and savior jesus christ we will receive the strength to endure every trial and every burden that will ever face us. Burdens and trials are really opportunities for us to grow and we rely on our savior. Every hurdle we jump over brings us that much closer to the end. We just want to make sure we are headed in the right direction. I love all of you! Thanks for everything!

E. Archibald

Random picture of friends of Matthews

Time For Some Change

Dear Mom, 

The Mondays are counting down and things are getting pretty crazy. Miracles are happening and the work has just blown up. We are teaching a ton and it's awesome! This past week we had the opportunity to teach a investigator that had set up the appointment a month before. The lesson we have with her is incredible. She expresses her beliefs and bears testimony of the truth that she does know and it is almost from where she left off with the previous missionaries 15 years ago. She expresses that she wants to be baptized but isn't sure on a date just yet. The lesson was so spiritual and we feel that Betty is so close to making this covenant. It seems like a reoccurring thing within our area. We have multiple people who are just waiting to be invited to baptism but something just has to click first and we are just waiting.

This is George Bradley. We bucked hay with him early in the morning. Such an awesome man! He let us pick huge bags of cherries as well. 

Today was also awesome. We planned a hike up to dog mountain. A huge hike! For missionaries at least. It took us a few hours to get to the top but it was worth it as you can see. On the way up I was able to help a missionary out from the beginning. He is a little bigger and hasn't worked out as much as he would have liked. But toward the beginning of the hike he said that he couldn't do it. His companion encouraged him as we continued on because he didn't want us to wait and that was the case for a little while up but I ended up relieving my companion and this other missionaries companion and then it was just him and I taking on this huge mountain. Slowly but surely we got to the top. He was terrified, tired, exhausted, thirsty, and afraid of heights but as we talked about the phrase "mountains to climb" we related this mountain to our missionary work and our life. We are going to be faced with something that we think we can never do or that just is inconceivable because we've never been able to do it before. This missionary had never really worked out before and was really struggling. We stopped for a second and we offered a prayer for strength and for an opportunity to see gods creations and to learn something valuable from this hike. I feel that we did. As this missionary and I walked and walked he gained confidence in reaching the top as he had recognized how far he had come. His persona, strength, and will power increased and his distance traveled did. As we talked to try and get his mind off of the cliffs surrounding us his words slowly changed from "I can't do this" to "I'm getting to the top." I know that that was only possible as he got up off of the ground where he was sitting and MOVED his feet. He excercised his faith and challenged his fears and The result was incredible. Not only did he make it to the top but now he can say that "I can do hard things."

Dog mountain was a blast. Elder Peterson and I.

This valuable lesson learned today will hopefully help him but I know it will help me. I know as I move my feet and challenge my fears I will come to know that any mountain is climbable with faith in Jesus Christ. 

Today I received and interesting phone call from President Taylor. He called and asked if We were sitting down and this made us go, "yea yea, just a second." We were preparing ourselves for something bad but he began to tell us this story. He had gotten ahold of the Kennewick mission president and had a good conversation with him. They talked about the mission splitting and what he was doing with his assistants. He expressed his decision was hazy and not really what he thought needed to happen this coming week and president had a similar concern with me. Didn't know where to put me, and this was his answer. President Taylor called me to be and assistant in the Kennewick mission to receive training on everything so that we can be prepared for the new mission president coming in July. So I will be serving in Kennewick this coming Saturday and leaving behind the Dalles so soon. I am excited to accept the call and serve closely with the mission president. This will be a mountain to climb for me that's for sure. Lots of the unknown in front of me but that's what a mission is all about. So I'm getting a little used to it. I want to thank all my brothers for their great examples. Also for my mom and dad. They did so much for me to get me where I am now. I hope to go and serve and BECOME something great. This new chapter of the mission and it's going to be great! We will see everyone in about 6 months!
Dog mountain was a blast. Elder Peterson and I.

Love, 

Elder Archibald

Elder Peterson, Andre, Pauline, teaching in the prison

Hey mom! 

Sorry about the past week! I will make it up somehow! Congratulations Brynn! 36 seconds has got to be a world record or something. I'm sad I can't be there to see him grow up for a few months but I will catch the walking and talking stage I think. Welcome to the family kip! 

Happy birthday dad! You turned 30 for the 25th time right? Im pretty sure my math is right. You look good in the photos! It's been a long time. And it won't be too long until I'm back home. 8 months from the 22 I will be home and it just keeps counting down. Crazy. As for the rain up here, it has only rained about twice since I've been here. We had a flash flood warning but that didn't happen. Luckily where we are we don't see rain very often. Vancouver and Portland see rain but we are a bit further away in the mountains. 

Right now my companion is Elder Peterson. We were actually companions in the MTC right at the beginning. So it's been fun as we have been working together. I'm continuing to learn more every day. The Lord seems to humble me in every situation possibly haha. It's interesting. Elder Peterson is from Burley Idaho. So he grew up on a ranch and is the 13th of 14 children. He kind of reminds me a Bailey Keetch but not sure who I could relate him to back home. I hardly remember anyone back home. I've got a lot of names on my mind haha. But everything has been going great! This week we are so so busy. We are planning a few trips to attend meetings down in Vancouver and also we are starting up a meeting for the 2 wards we cover. A member missionary meeting. We all meet together and have a district meeting with the members of the ward and practice ways that we can do missionary work with our friends and also just easy ways to talk about the gospel. We are pretty excited about it. This will be our first meeting but we will see how it goes and get back to you this next p day. Along with all the meetings we are seeing a boy named Andre. Him and his mom are taking the lessons along with some Old Testament reading just to give him a basic knowledge of God and the scriptures. It's been so much fun working with them. Recently we have invited his mother Pauline to read the Book of Mormon because we were originally there to teach Andre and she has been asking slot of questions. She actually has been keeping her commitment to read and hopefully soon we can start getting her to come to church with her son. Little miracles like those are continuing to happen all around Elder Peterson and I. This last Sunday we had two couples approach us and ask us if we can teach the lessons to their non member relatives. OBVIOUSLY we said yes. Even though we are getting pretty booked. The Dalles 1st and 2nd Ward are the best I've served in so far. So much work to do here and it's great. We are also teaching people in the prison. I wanted to share a little about a guy named Belander. He has been in for a few months now until he gets a final say on when he goes to actual prison. We have been working with him for a few months and the genius is doing great. He has read the whole Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants once and is going through it again. He is making some great progress. It was pretty funny, about a month ago Elder McDaniel and I had to split and teach two at the same time and Belander got in the subject of women. He pulled out a picture of his "x" and he told me about her a little. She had tattoos everywhere just like him. Belander has a tattoo on every part of his body. It's awesome to see that change that has come as he has met with us. Anyways, he eventually told me that he wanted to date a Mormon woman when he got out. And I asked him why. He said that it would be good for him to have that kind of influence in his life and they just are different. He really has come to like the ensigns I think. So that day I left him with the woman of the Old Testament. The Ensign haha. It was pretty funny. 

This past week I was able to read a little article by Elder David A. Bednar and he spoke of the enabling power of the atonement. He used the example of Nephi when his brothers bound him. And how he prayed not for his circumstances to change but that he might be empowered to overcome and change the circumstances he was in.

1 Nephi 7:17

17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound.

Nephi understood the enabling power of the atonement and how God really is able to help his children. We are here to learn and grow through the experiences of mortality and so if he was to take them away from us without giving us that opportunity of experience it would defeat his purpose. Instead he allows us to see that with his help it is a lot easier. Not that the burdens aren't there but that with him we can accomplish more. I know that to be true! I see it every day. 

Love ya mom! 

Elder Archibald

Mother's Day appointment

Hey mom! Sorry I wasn't able to write to you individually this week. Dad and Michael got one so you should be able to hear from them. I've got a lot of things to share with you we will just have to share them next Sunday when we skype. I will be available at 4 pm my time. I believe that is 3 your time but I'm not sure. Things are going great. The transfer is finishing up and everything is looking good. I'm going on 16 months soon. Crazy! Well love you. Everyone looks so happy. I'm sorry to hear about Connie dummer. And I'm glad Zach is still looking as young as he used to. It's going to be great to see them with a new baby. I'm crossing my fingers for a boy! 

Keep these questions in this email in mind as we skype. There is a lot happening! 

Love you! 

E. Archibald

Tracting in the Dalles

Hey dad!
Sorry I haven't replied in a week or two! Mom just needs a lot of
attention you know. Haha things are going great out here. We are just
working on finishing up the transfer and getting thing situated with
my companion. He is headed home this transfer and so you know, he is a
little trunky. A little excited to go home haha. That's alright
though. We stay focused and work hard still. This last week we had a
luau for the church and there was a tone of people that showed up. We
had a total of about 42 non members show up and about 6 of our
investigators. It worked out really well.

This Saturday we had a pretty cool experience. We were tracting this
neighborhood and every single door was a nope or I'm atheist or
whatever they could come up with. And the. We came to this door and
rang the door bell and this big guy came to the door and we were
excited to see him and all he said was. Come on in. That is music to
our ears. "It's about to go down." Haha that's what goes through our
heads. As in the spiritual bomb is about to be set off. And it really
was after we found out who he was. He is an excommunicated member that
has struggled seriously  with the word of wisdom and is doing all that
he can to get away from it. Not going close to bars, secluding himself
and all these other things. He had been praying for the past couple
months to have God help him with his issue and low a behold we show
up. We were the first that had knocked on the door for the past 6
months. And so he was surprised to see us. As we continued to talk we
had found out where he was at with his spirituality you could say and
we began to teach him about the power of the atonement. how that power
is at times the only power that will enable us to overcome the trials
in this life. Also that it is the only things that will ultimately
prepare us to receive all that our Heavenly Father has in store for
us. He said he was praying and reading the bible but things haven't
changed. Mosiah 3:19 states what we need to do. This is what we shared
with him.

19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall
of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the
enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and
becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and
becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love,
willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict
upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

As we do this we are able to live worthy and openly receive the spirit
of the lord within our lives which purifies and sanctifies us. As the
people heard this sermon from king Benjamin they heard his words and
gave place for them in their hearts and this is what happened. Mosiah
5:2:

...because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a
mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more
disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.

We told him that as we submit to our father the blessings of heaven
are bestowed upon us. And that all that is wrong in this life will be
made right. The spirit was so strong as we testified of the atonement
and the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. That spirit allowed
us to move the mountain within his heart and commit him to work his
way back to Christ.

A lot of awesome miracles are happening and hopefully will continue.
Thanks for all that you do and I love you!

I had some questions about health stuff. Do we as a family have
prostate problems or bladder problems? I've been having trouble with
my bladder and I'm seeing the urologist for the second time on
Thursday. Just so you know. Idk if you've had that issue before or
something. Other than that things are great. I'm working on just
gaining as much knowledge about everything I possibly can. I wish I
would have read a lot a lot more. I would recommend getting Thomas out
of the video games and reading because from what we see with kids and
video games it's ridiculous. It doesn't do anyone any good to play
games. Though they are fun they aren't good. Anyways! Thanks for
everything have a great week!
E. Archibald


✌️ I leave with you !